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Lia to, he didn’t feel right about asking

There was a han She narrowed her eyes, and then her face cleared "Oh, I’han Sean’s sister You don’t mind if I sit in on your little chat, do you?"

Lia such a risk, and the young woman didn’t seem to understand the enormity of situation he was in, nor the secrecy of it

"She’s s"

Liaht, then" He bit his botto for words, and then he said, "Aaron has orderedwith thethe, ah, incantations that go with the And what does he expect to do with these iteainst Artied near-identical frowns They were silent for athe information

"But--" Sean said, and stopped

"Do you think--?" Meghan said, and she stopped too They looked at each other again, and then Meghan turned to Liaot lucky a few ti "A few very iic, I mean?" She knew of at least one other, that was certain She touched her shoulder, where the burn from Gondoleery’s fireball still smarted

Sean shook his head "I don’t think so When Quill attacked us the day Aaron killed Mr Today, some of them cast spell components at us and they didn’t work They just bounced off us"

"But did your spells work?" asked Meghan, who hadn’t been present during that attack "Or did you all start fighting after Arti the horrible day "Oh, you’re right It was after Our spells didn’t work, either" He shook his head "Sorry My mind is a bit fuzzy from the medicine"

Lias’ conversation was done "I do think Aaron can do ic, and not just by accident," he ventured "For he’s obviously done it more than once And as for anyone else, well" His face clouded as he remembered the tireeted by a wave of heat "Yes I think there are others"

Meghan wondered if Liam knew about Gondoleery too But she hadn’t told anyone of her visit to the palace, or what had taken place there--it hadn’t been s would be furious to know she’d taken such a risk She didn’t know if she could trust Liah to say what she’d seen, so she continued to keep quiet about it "Liaht about that," she said simply "There are others to be wary of in Quill" She looked at Liaive you a bunch of spell cohed

Liahter in his chair "I’m here to see if you would consider a-a plan Of mine, that is"

Sean’s eyes narrowed "What kind of plan?"

Liaive han’s lips parted

Sean raised an eyebrow

"And," Liam continued quickly "And, ah, I would show them to Aaron, so he would see I did my job, and he’d trust me more, and then I could return the them safe, you see For when he needed them" He dropped his eyes and mumbled, "But obviously I wouldn’t be, because you’d have thehan stared

"It’s kind of a trick," he added The idea didn’t sound nearly as good out loud as it had seemed in Lia here with two very intelligent people How did they get to be Unwanted if they were so smart? he wondered

And then it dawned on hiic She was creative and intelligent Sean and Meghan were too And Claire, of courseJustine’s words haunted hio to university The creative Unwanteds are sent to their deaths" Not even Justine herself had said that the creative children were unintelligent It was just so about it, it didn’t see as that What a land of fools

Liahed weakly and slumped in his chair "I realize no this sounds I’m not, ah, not very practiced when it co your tiive me" He pushed back his chair and stood up, unable to look either Sean or Meghan in the eye, and hurried out of the hospital ward to the sound of their incredulous silence

Noas he going to do? He thought about the options as he left the h the ever-widening opening into Quill He’d have to admit to Aaron sooner or later that he wasn’t able to co it out for a few days before Aaron sent him back to the Ancients Sector